Kong (second left) shows the call log of Lee’s phone where the latter received a call claiming to be from Pos Laju, while Sim (left), Lee (second right) and his wife look on.
KUCHING (Feb 27): When 39-year-old Mr Lee picked up a call from an unknown number two days ago, he never expected that he would end up losing an eye-watering RM1 million to an online banking scam in just 14 seconds.
He still cannot accept that he has lost RM1 million — money which he saved throughout his life.
The caller claimed that he was from Poslaju and requested that Mr Lee give his One Time Password (OTP).
Being a savvy businessman, Lee sensed something was wrong, thus he hung up the call. He then decided to check his account.
It was then that he discovered withdrawal of RM1 million had been made from his bank’s savings account without his authorisation.
He then immediately called the bank to lodge a complaint and make a police report.
Mr Lee is one of the latest victims who sought help from Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak over online banking scams.
According to the special assistant to DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, Michael Kong, based on Mr Lee’s online bank transfer records, the money was transferred to an account by the name ‘Celcom Sdn Bhd’.
“No OTP or notification was sent to Lee. Furthermore, if one were to withdraw RM20,000 cash from his bank account over the counter, most banks nowadays will require the account holder to fill in forms and answer a list of questions justifying the withdrawal of the money.
“He was merely answering a phone call for about 14 seconds and yet RM1 million in his bank account was literally stolen from him,” he said.
“If withdrawing even RM20,000 is such a hassle, how could two withdrawals of RM500,000 each happen within minutes?” he asked.
Kong was met at the DAP headquarters today.
Worried that more cases of online banking scam would happen, Kong urged the federal government to take immediate action to address the matter.
“Just as we are still waiting for the Minister of Finance to provide us a solution on the debate of YB Chong Ching Jen in respect of this issue which he brought up last week in Parliament, another shocking case of unauthorised transfer of money from the account of an account holder happened and this time it was RM1 million,” he said, adding that banks also must take responsibility for the losses caused by these scams.
Asked whether they had contacted any bank for account under the name ‘Celcom Sdn Bhd’, he said so far they had only contacted the bank in question.
“So far, we have contacted the bank. But as usual, their standard answer is to wait for 14 days, standard procedure because everything needs to wait for their headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
“But to wait 14 days is too long. The bank really needs to explain how such huge transaction could happen,” he said.
He also stressed that the bank must step up its security system to prevent incidents of online scams.
“Banks are supposed to be the safest place to keep our savings. Now, it seems that even banks are not safe, so where else can we, the common people, keep our savings?
“Therefore, the government must act immediately on bank scams and hold banks responsible for the losses caused by these scams,” he said.
Kong also said that he and Sim Kiat Leng, who is also the special assistant to Chong, will assist Lee to recover the money and seek compensation from the bank.
Meanwhile, Lee’s wife when met said the incident was indeed shocking as such a huge sum of money could be wiped out in just a split second.
“Despite the incident, I try to take the matter positively and my husband and I are physically safe,” she said.